Joy and Sorrow
by Shimmer712
Summary: Demon-Slayer Silver reflects on his past and the loss that set him on his path.


Disclaimer: I really wish I could claim ownership of the characters. But the only ones I have a chance of doing so with are the nameless ones.

**Joy and Sorrow**

A tired smile met his face as she held the blanket wrapped bundle out to him. Looking at her, you would have no idea that earlier she had been screaming curses and threats at him through the door where he waited (_sensibly_) for her labour to end.

'_Well, almost no idea,'_ he amended silently, eyeing the spikes of ice in the walls. He was impressed the midwife and nurses avoided them all although given that this region had a large number of ice mages, it was probably a well practiced skill. He reached out to take the baby from her. It wasn't like he was going to break the kid, right? Right?

Oh god. She was going to _kill_ him! She goes through all that screaming and stuff and then he _breaks the baby!_ He was going to die! Painfully!

Okay. So far so good. Baby not broken yet. He was so light. So little. Silver stared at the tiny face. Did he really help create this?

His little Gray…

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Silver rocked the child back and forth. The boy was growing and was less inclined to allowing his father carry him, more interested in tottering around on his own now that he had started to figure out how walking works. Never mind the falling. The stubborn kid just pulls himself up and starts toddling again.

The kid was going to give him grey hairs before his time wasn't he? Maybe he should invest in one of those kiddie leash things.

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"Oh god, my face!" the idiot wailed. Served him right. Silver tugged at his newly pierced ear. The things he did for the love of his life.

She had gotten an earring and necklace set, little crosses. She decided she wasn't going to wear them but her boys would. She refused to allow Gray to pierce his ears so Silver wound up with that. Gray got the necklace.

But since it was typically women who wore jewellery in both ears, some of the local idiots were making cracks.

Speaking of which…

"Hey Silver, if you wanna explore your feminine side, there are better ways to do it!" Another moron approached.

Hmm…maybe he should back off. He really should set a good example for his boy. He recalled Nick being bawled out by his wife a while back for getting into a brawl and setting a bad example for their kid. Did he really want to receive a screaming fit from Gray's mother?

Then he remembered that just a few days ago, she had broken a chair over some sap's head and that with her temper, she had no room to talk. Then he kicked the moron in the knee.

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Silver was annoyed. He had been about to go to bed when these guys came asking him to go on a job. He agreed but hoped it wouldn't take as long as expected. He wanted to start teaching his son his version of ice magic. He grumbled as he finished packing and started to head for the stairs.

He stopped at a door and cracked it opened. Gray slept peacefully. Silver smiled and crossed the room to rest his hand on a tousled head.

"Daddy's going away for a few weeks," he whispered to his boy. "He'll be back soon though, and then we'll start playing with magic together, okay?" He rubbed Gray's head. Gray stirred and shifted slightly before settling again.

He kissed his boy on the temple and walked out the door.

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No. No. No Nonono_nononoNO_!

Please, no…

Silver stumbled through the wreckage, searching uselessly.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He had heard the gossip in the neighbouring village he had stopped in on his way home. But they had to be lying. They had to…

This can't be real.

The villagers (damn them for not doing anything. For not helping them) had said the attack had occurred in the early hours of the morning. The morning after he had left. Hours after he had left on a job.

No. No. No.

Silver didn't know if he was actually speaking or if the word was just repeating in his mind.

Then he found her. His love. His angel. The light of his life and mother of his child.

Dead.

Silver couldn't remember if he screamed or choked on sobs at the sight. She was gone. All that was left was a shell that once housed her soul.

He couldn't even find that much of his little boy.

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Silver reflects bitterly on how he got here. How he had obsessively tracked down information of demon slayer magic. He never returned to Isvan for over a decade, it was too painful for many years (although he had finally managed to bring himself to go back and visit the graves he made for them). He had roamed, hunting and killing demons, although he never found _that _one _(the one that took __**everything**__ from him)_.

Then he met her. He had killed her lackeys and made the error of catching her interest. She had arranged for him to be captured and changed.

Kyouka had robbed him of his humanity.

But he was able to find demons with greater ease with the help of her guild (_his _guild now). But, if they had their way, humans would be wiped out.

The human world had nothing for him now. He recalled how Isvans neighbours hadn't dared to even start to approach the village until days after the attack. Long after any survivors would have died from injury and cold. Maybe she would have lived if someone had helped her. Maybe he would still have her if the neighbouring villages hadn't been cowards and abandoned Isvan.

He lost his light and he lost his joy. He had no reason to care about the world's fate.

But as he listened to his guildmates, his gut squirmed uneasily.

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A/N This was written for the Silver=Gray's father theory. Are there any chances of someone writing their own fic for the Silver=Ur's Husband/Ultear's father theory?

Basically, Gray didn't know his dad was right of town when Deliora attacked and given a kid survived, I think Ur would have considered that maybe his father did too since a body wasn't found and only took Gray when it looked as though dad was coming and probably was dead.

And I was sincere in that request for someone to write a piece for the Silver=Ur's Husband/Ultear's father theory by the way.


End file.
